FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Making sure the food you eat is safe is a big priority.
As part of that effort, the federal government just opened the largest lab in the country for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to do that and it’s right here in metro Atlanta.
Channel 2’s Steve Gehlbach was at the brand new facility at Fort McPherson in South Fulton County to tour the state-of-the-art where the work is being done to keep our food safe.
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At Fort McPherson, the former forces command building sat empty for more than a decade after the base was decommissioned.
Now, the building has been transformed, with the old structure completely gutted to create a new hub for public health and consumer safety.
More than 200 scientists, investigators and inspectors will soon work out of the 162,000 square foot FDA lab.
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Agency officials were there Tuesday morning for a ribbon cutting and gave a tour of some of the new lab.
“It really enables this mission with modern design, including advanced HVAC, creating a safer environment for the staff that works here,” Kyle Diamantas, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods, told Channel 2 Action News.
The FDA tests everything, from what goes in our shopping carts to what ends up on our dinner plates.
The items Americans consume range from baby formula to vitamins and supplements, as well as tobacco and now vaping products.
The FDA tests them all.
The new Fort McPherson facility, now the largest FDA lab in the United States, is a massive upgrade to the nation’s scientific infrastructure, according to officials.
The FDA said the new facility will let it complete new and better tests for food safety.
“This really centralizes that work and allows us to do it at a much greater and larger scale, and also with modern and new technology here, we can do it much quicker,” Diamantas said. “So the quicker we can get the results out, the quicker we can take action.
The lab is also equipped to handle food illness outbreaks, like if something’s found in a product.
Going forward, the FDA said it will be able to work with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to sequence the DNA and trace it back to a food or even a specific ingredient.
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